Carrier performance at one airport
AA→SFO
American Airlines at San Francisco International
- Departures
- 11,833
- Period
- July 2025 to June 2026
- Routes
- 8
- Rank here
- #4 of 9
American Airlines at San Francisco lands a B, level with the national rate of 77.6%. Roughly one flight in five arrive 15 minutes late or worse, and those flights are late by close to two hours on average. That is a workable record, not a spotless one. That rests on 11,833 flights, of which United Airlines flew 60,681 at 81.1% on time.
Measured against the airport rather than the country, American Airlines runs half a point ahead of the 77.3% weighted average across all carriers at SFO. That is the comparison worth making: every operator here works the same runways, the same airspace and the same weather.
Key figures
On time
77.9%
11,550 completed departures
Avg delay
106 min
Across delayed flights only
Cancelled
1.88%
At SFO, this carrier only
Rank here
#4
Of 9 carriers clearing the floor at SFO
These figures cover 12,000 flights between July 2025 and June 2026. Beyond the headline rate, 8.8% of arrivals land a full hour or more behind schedule. That is the number that wrecks a connection, and it is not visible in an on-time percentage alone.
Against the competition
Every carrier at SFO, ranked
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. United Airlines arrives on time 81.1% of the time; Southwest Airlines manages 59.0%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 9,408 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Airlines | 60,681 | 81.1% | 59 min | 0.55% | B+ |
| Delta Air Lines | 13,817 | 78.7% | 68 min | 1.19% | B |
| JetBlue Airways | 4,397 | 78.6% | 75 min | 1.61% | B |
| American Airlines (this page) | 11,833 | 77.9% | 106 min | 1.88% | B |
| Alaska Airlines | 10,554 | 76.3% | 55 min | 1.07% | B |
| SkyWest Airlines | 32,078 | 76.3% | 74 min | 1.26% | B |
| Hawaiian Airlines | 507 | 75.1% | 67 min | 1.97% | B |
| Frontier Airlines | 3,407 | 65.2% | 83 min | 1.97% | C |
| Southwest Airlines | 9,408 | 59.0% | 59 min | 0.82% | D+ |
The spread between United and Southwest is 22 points, wide enough that it should decide the booking. On a hundred trips that is 22 more arrivals inside the on-time window.
Route by route
Where American Airlines flies from SFO
American Airlines operates 8 routes out of SFO with enough volume to report. Route records inside one carrier at one airport still spread widely, because a short shuttle and a transcontinental have very different exposure to a late inbound.
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SFO to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worth | 3,072 | 73.4% | 100 min | 2.80% | C |
| SFO to ORD · Chicago | 1,763 | 73.2% | 111 min | 1.76% | C |
| SFO to CLT · Charlotte | 1,496 | 85.6% | 129 min | 1.20% | A |
| SFO to JFK · New York | 1,448 | 80.9% | 119 min | 2.90% | B |
| SFO to PHX · Phoenix | 1,320 | 75.7% | 106 min | 0.83% | B+ |
| SFO to PHL · Philadelphia | 1,286 | 84.7% | 108 min | 1.87% | B |
| SFO to MIA · Miami | 1,102 | 77.8% | 82 min | 0.91% | B+ |
| SFO to LAX · Los Angelesthin sample | 345 | 76.7% | 108 min | 0.29% | B+ |
Departure window
Best time of day for this operation
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 28 points, against 22 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.
- 5am–8am2,665 flights91.1%
- 8am–11am2,307 flights81.1%
- 11am–2pm2,384 flights68.8%
- 2pm–5pm1,442 flights63.3%
- 5pm–8pm487 flights67.8%
- 8pm–5am2,548 flights79.7%
Scale runs 55% to 95%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.
Book the early departure. Flights leaving between 5am–8am arrive on time 91.1% of the time, against 63.3% for the afternoon window. That is 28 points of difference for no extra money, and it comes from the same aircraft having had no earlier flight to fall behind on. The 5am–8am window is the busiest, with 2,665 flights scheduled in it.
Across the year
Seasonal pattern
June is the worst month at 69.3% on time, 15 points below February, the best at 84.6%. Summer afternoon convection and peak-season schedules land on the same weeks every year, so this is a pattern you can book around rather than a run of bad luck. June was the busiest month here, with 1,156 flights.
Delay causes
What holds this operation up
- 44%Carrier
- 42%Late-arriving aircraft
- 11%National Airspace System
- 2%Extreme weather
- 0%Security
42% of delay minutes trace back to a late-arriving aircraft, meaning the plane was already behind before it got here. That is a cascade, and cascades start small and grow through the day. Across 272,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 18 to one. It is the strongest argument for booking the first departure of the morning, when the aircraft has been sitting at the gate overnight with nothing to inherit. The split is drawn from 271,933 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations sit at 1.88% against a national 1.81%, which is ordinary. Diversions add another 0.51%.
8.8% of arrivals land an hour or more late, close to the national 8.1%. That is the figure that decides a connection, and it says a 60 to 75 minute layover is reasonable here while anything under 45 minutes is a bet. Most delays on this route are the close to two hours kind, which a normal layover absorbs.
The sample behind these figures is 11,833 flights, enough that the headline rate is stable to within roughly a point. The hour-block and month splits divide that further, so read the thinner bars with more caution than the headline.
Put together: the calendar is the biggest lever here, not the carrier or the hour. February runs 84.6% on time and June 69.3%, a swing of 15 points. If the dates move at all, move them out of June before you think about anything else. 11,550 completed flights over 12 months sit behind that.
Common questions
American Airlines at SFO
How often is American Airlines at SFO delayed?
Roughly one flight in five arrive at least 15 minutes late, which is the Department of Transportation's definition of a delayed arrival. That works out to 22.1% of the 11,833 flights in this analysis, against 22.4% nationally. Delayed flights are late by close to two hours on average.
Which airline is most reliable on American Airlines at SFO?
United Airlines leads at 81.1% on time across 60,681 flights. Southwest Airlines is at the other end on 59.0%, a gap of 22 points. Sample size matters as much as the percentage: a rate built from a few hundred flights moves around far more than one built from ten thousand.
What time of day has the fewest delays on American Airlines at SFO?
The 5am–8am departure window is the strongest at 91.1% on time. The 2pm–5pm window is the weakest at 63.3%, 28 points behind. Later departures inherit delays from earlier flights the same aircraft has already flown, which is why the curve slopes the way it does.
How bad are June delays on American Airlines at SFO?
June is the weakest month at 69.3% on time, compared with 84.6% in February. Across the year that is 15 points between the best and worst months. Moving flexible dates out of that month is one of the few things that reliably helps.
Related
Where to go next
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, on-time performance data, July 2025 to June 2026. Updated monthly. How this data is collected.